Eight of Nine

Marcos Grigorian was an artist, actor, teacher, gallerist, curator and collector who lived a nomadic life between the Soviet Union, Iran, Italy, the United States and Armenia. Among Grigorian’s varied works are figurative and expressionistic paintings made from inexpensive, often everyday, materials. Eight of Nine (1964) consists of eight wooden squares arranged atop burlap-covered earth. It appears as though there is room for the tiles to traverse space and time, escaping their precise designation. The empty expanse of the imagined ninth tile leaves a site of possible activation and movement.